Call center objectives to expand your customer service reach

Call center objectives to expand your customer service reach

Your call center is offshore, you’re now operating on an international level, so it’s important your customer service expands at the same rate your business is. Having all or part of your customer service offshore enables your customers to reach someone day or night and saves you a packet load of money (your accountant is loving you silly). You can also reach further, for longer and work smarter with your customer service performance metrics so your hard-earned customers stay happy. It sounds so simple and so, well, obvious, but it’s so important- make sure your call center objectives are clear and are working for you so your remote contact centre grows your customer service footprint. Simples.

One system, anywhere and everywhere

Your remote call centers need to be singing off the same hymn sheet as you, so everyone is working towards the same thing. Again, so simple, and your single cloud-based online platform should allow everyone to be marching to the beat of your drum (we don’t want any Beliebers going rogue, now do we?). Your singular software platform allows training on your current campaigns to be shared in real time, and your call center objectives to be shared and understood everywhere. Every campaign is different so information needs to be shared frequently and seamlessly wherever your agents are. Ensure your managers are accessing this information, are clear on the call center metrics, and are mentoring their staff to do a great job for you.

Work from anywhere

Times they are a changing, and not everything is required to be done sitting at a desk for an 8 hour shift. It doesn’t matter where you live, the Philippines or South Africa, people have lives and commitments that means that sometimes you miss quality recruitment opportunities by limiting their time to contact hours. By setting a call centre objective that allows agents to work remotely, this will mean you have happy staff who feel trusted and valued. This way, customers will not only be able to have their queries and issues resolved at any time of the day or night, they will hopefully have a higher quality agent helping them navigate their way through. So setting call center objectives about working effectively from whatever location that allows this, will ensure you’re getting the best of your team.

Smart IVR

Sometimes your customers are feeling cranky and are calling to resolve an issue, or if they just want some information, quickly and with minimum back and forth. Having an IVR System that directs calls to the right agents, every time, is an important element of your call center. Link this in with call center objectives around faster call times and short wait times and you, and your cranky customers, can turn those frowns upside down.

Picking up dead hours

Your local agents are snoozing peacefully, having enjoyed the latest episode of the Bachelor (Richie mate what were you thinking) and recharging for another full on day at the office. But you still have customers, and these customers still have needs and don’t really care if Richie chose Alex or Nikki. And that’s the beauty of your remote call center- customer service that doesn’t sleep. Call center objectives that involve your call centers picking up your dead hours will expand your customer service reach just by them waking up and starting their normal work day. And best of all, agents in the Philippines or Manila have no idea who the Bachelor is or what girl he chose…. aaah bliss.

Service outside the call centre

Let’s face it, not everyone is a phone person (except ideally your call center staff will be!). There are many modes of communication, especially in this day and age, and good call center objectives will cater for these preferences. Whether it’s from the first contact or providing updates on an existing query, Facebook, Twitter, email and text are important communication modes to consider using if the ultimate goal is to expand your customer service reach. Consider having agents working the social media landscape, and when setting this call center objective remember the subtle but oh-so-important nuances of customer service in this channel. It can make or break a brand, because any query is not just between the agent and the customer, but reaches a much vaster network. So create some call center objectives around timeliness and quality of responses, and ensure your agents understand your brand, product and campaign they’re working on back to front and inside out.

Remember, customer service is not just a phone conversation, and the most extensive phone skills training course will not be enough to provide truly great service. It’s not just a service and it’s not transactional. Great customer service is provided by agents who are interested in people, are curious and like to have conversations. A solid conversation, whether you’re having it in a pub, online or on the phone, can reveal a lot about a person, and sometimes what’s required unfolds as the conversation does. It’s a relationship that flows on from the initial contact until the query is resolved, and possibly even beyond that- eventually customers will need to upgrade, expand or replace and you want them to remember your agents name and their interaction fondly when this time comes. So when you’re recruiting your staff, your call center objective needs to include finding people who like to have conversations, are curious by nature and will view each interaction as an opportunity to find out about the customer and what they really need. The right people coupled with the right call center objectives will ensure your customer service is humming along and you’re reaching more people, at more times in more ways than ever before.

 

Want to explore the offshore world a bit closer?

 

Flickr cc: Buddy Venturanza